Health Care - Sociological Imagination - Lecture Slides, Slides of Sociology

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Chapter 14 Health, Health Care, and Disability docsity.com Questions for you… • Why is an affordable and accessible health care system such a vital component in a society? • Is there a health care crisis in the United States, and worldwide? • What are some of the current political debates regarding universal health care coverage in the United States? • What are the arguments for, and against a universal plan? docsity.com Health in Global Perspective • Life expectancy – AIDS has cut life expectancy by: • 5 years in Nigeria • 18 years in Kenya • 33 years in Zimbabwe docsity.com Health Statistics • Take a look at the link below from the National Center for Health Statistics to find information on health care concerns in the United States. docsity.com How Much Do You Know About Health, Illness, and Health Care? • True or False? – The primary reason that African Americans have shorter life expectancies than whites is the high rate of violence in central cities and the rural South. docsity.com How Much Do You Know About Health, Illness, and Health Care? • False. – Until recently, chronic depression and other mental conditions were most often depicted as “female” problems. – However, in the late 1990s, male celebrities such as Mike Wallace, the news correspondent who is co-editor of 60 Minutes, have made the general public more aware of male depression. docsity.com Social Epidemiology • Study of the causes and distribution of health, and disease in a population: – Disease agents – insects, bacteria, nutrient agents, pollutants, and temperature. – Environment - physical, biological and social environments. – Human host - demographic factors such as age, sex, race, and ethnicity. docsity.com Demographic Factors: Age • Rates of illness and death are highest among the old and the young. • After age 65, rates of chronic diseases and mortality increase rapidly. – Chronic diseases are long term or lifelong, and develop gradually or are present from birth. – Acute diseases strike suddenly and cause dramatic incapacitation and sometimes death. docsity.com Lifestyle Factors: Alcohol and Tobacco • Chronic heavy drinking or alcoholism can cause permanent damage to the brain or other parts of the body. • Tobacco is responsible for about one in every five deaths in this country. docsity.com Lifestyle Factors: Illegal Drugs • High doses of marijuana smoked during pregnancy can result in congenital abnormalities and neurological disturbances. • Some studies found an increased risk of cancer and lung problems associated with marijuana because its smokers are believed to inhale more deeply than tobacco users. • People who use cocaine over extended periods of time have higher rates of infection, heart problems, internal bleeding, hypertension and stroke. docsity.com Lifestyle Factors: Sexually Transmitted Diseases • Sexual activity can result in the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis, and genital herpes. • Prior to 1960, the incidence of STDs in this country had been reduced sharply by barrier-type contraceptives and the use of penicillin as a cure. • In the 1960s and 1970s the number of cases of STDs increased rapidly with the introduction of the birth control pill, which led to couples being less likely to use barrier contraceptives. docsity.com The Flexner Report • Abraham Flexner met with the leading faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to develop a model of medical education. • The model included the belief that a medical school should be a research- oriented, laboratory facility that devoted all of its energies to teaching and research, not to the practice of medicine. • He visited each of the 155 medical schools then in existence comparing docsity.com The Flexner Report • As a result of the Flexner report (1910), all but two African American medical schools were closed, and only one medical school for women survived. • As a result, white women and other minorities were largely excluded from medical education for the first half of the 20th century. • Until the civil rights movement and the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s most physicians were white male docsity.com Paying for Medical Care in the U.S. • Private Health Insurance: cited as the main reason for medical inflation, gives doctors and hospitals an incentive to increase costs. • Public Health Insurance: projections call for Medicaid spending to double and Medicare spending to triple in the next few years. docsity.com Implications of Advanced Medical Technology • Create options that alter human relationships (prolonging life after consciousness is lost). • Increase the cost of medical care. • Raise questions about the very nature of life (invitro fertilization, cloning, stem cell research). docsity.com Persons Not Covered by Health Insurance, by State HB Less than 10.5 percent 1) 1046 to 12.9 percent [19 13.0 to 15.9 percent HB 16.0 to 20.0 percent Alaska} [J More than 20 percent & oz Cengepetrg docsity.com Holistic and Alternative Medicine • Holistic medicine focuses on prevention of illness and disease and is aimed at treating the whole person rather than just the part or parts in which symptoms occur. • Alternative medicine includes healing practices inconsistent with dominant medical practice. docsity.com The Sick Role • The sick are not responsible for their condition. • The sick are temporarily exempt from their normal role obligations. • The sick must want to get well. • The sick must seek help from a medical professional to hasten their recovery. docsity.com Polling Question • How physically active are you compared to your contemporaries? A. More active B. About average C. Less active docsity.com Sociological Perspectives on Health and Medicine Functionalist: The sick role People who are sick are exempt from obligations, but must want to get well and seek competent help. Conflict: Inequalities in health and health care Problems in health care are rooted in the capitalist system, exemplified by the medical–industrial complex. docsity.com % of U.S. Populati on With Disabiliti es Percentage of U.S. Population with Disabilities Characteristic Percentage With a disability 20.8 Severe 13.7 Not severe 7.0 Has difficulty or is unable to: See words and letters 3.5 Hear normal conversation 3.5 Have speech understood 1.2 Lift or carry ten pounds 6.9 Use stairs 9.2 Walk 94 Has difficulty or needs assistance with: Getting around inside the house 17 Getting in/out of bed ora chair 25 Taking a bath or shower 2.2 Dressing 17 Eating 0.8 Getting to or using the toilet 1.1 Has difficulty or needs assistance with: Going outside the home alone 4.0 Managing money and bills 2.2 Preparing meals 2.3 Doing light housework 3.1 Using the telephone 13 Percentage of persons age 15 and older. Source: Steinmetz, 2006. docsity.com Functionalist Perspective on Disability • The medical model of disability: – People with disabilities become chronic patients under the supervision of doctors and other medical personnel, subject to a doctor’s orders or a program’s rules, and not to their own judgment. – From this perspective, disability is deviance. docsity.com Symbolic Interactionist Perspective on Disability • People with a disability experience role ambiguity because many people equate disability with deviance. • By labeling individuals with a disability as “deviant,” others avoid them or treat them as outsiders. • Society marginalizes people with a disability because they have lost old roles docsity.com sand Employm ent Status Not employed Persons with a disability Not employed Persons without a disability Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2008. docsity.com Quick Quiz docsity.com 1. An institutionalized system for the scientific diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of illness is: A. health care B. medicalization C. medicine D. social epidemiology docsity.com Answer: C • The study of the causes and distribution of health, disease, and impairment throughout a population is called social epidemiology. docsity.com 3. HMO stands for: A. health maintenance organizations B. health managed-care organizations C. health management obstetricians D. human managed organizations docsity.com Answer: A • HMO stands for health maintenance organizations. docsity.com 5. Social class is a better indicator of health problems than race or ethnicity. A. False. B. True. docsity.com Answer: B • Social class is a better indicator of health problems than race or ethnicity. docsity.com